State To Shut Down Unit 19C Sheep Hunt

The following is courtesy of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game:

Sheep Hunting Closed in Unit 19C for Fall 2025

(McGrath, Alaska) – Unit 19C sheep populations experienced a significant decline due to weather beginning in 2019. This decline was experienced across the Alaska Range and by the summer of 2023 Department staff observed 62% fewer sheep than compared to the long-term average. Due to concern over the decline, the Alaska Board of Game (BOG) submitted Proposal 204 to close all sheep hunting in Unit 19C for 5 years. The board deliberated Proposal 204 at the March 2023 BOG meeting in Kenai and amended it to eliminate only the youth hunt and the nonresident hunt. The closure was for 5 years to include regulatory years 2023 – 2027. An additional part of Proposal 204 was to create a working group to address the decline and make recommended regulatory suggestions to the BOG. The Unit 19C Sheep Working Group was formed and met twice in 2024. The working group submitted an agenda change request to the BOG which was accepted and became Proposal 190, which was scheduled for the March 2025 BOG meeting in Anchorage.

Proposal 190 included recommendations to close all general season hunting for both residents and nonresidents in 2025 and then to implement a draw hunt for both residents and nonresidents in 2026 and 2027. No changes were to be made to the winter subsistence hunt RS380.

After extensive deliberations, the BOG adopted proposal 190 and there will be no hunting for residents or nonresidents in the fall of 2025 in Unit 19C. Then beginning in 2026, 20 draw permits will be issued with 16 going to residents, 3 to nonresident guided hunters, and 1 to a nonresident hunter with a family member within the second degree of kindred. The RS380 registration permit will remain open during all years.